Light In The Darkness
by solemnlyswearmischief
Summary: (Collaborated story with kitcat5510 - archive our own & tumblr). A fateful meeting on the Hogwarts Express builds an unlikely friendship between two who are meant to hate each other. But just how different are they really? Past secrets are revealed and things don't go the way people expect. (Pureblood!Hermione)


**Light in the Darkness**

 **Chapter 1**

Hermione, Harry and Neville got knocked backwards off their feet. Neville got thrown into a wall and had mostly disappeared from view while Hermione smashed down the steps and was engulfed in a cascade of pebbles. The back of Harry's head slammed into the stone wall and for a moment was too dizzy to react.

There was a sudden feeling of dread, because the three had been separated from the others.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" shouted the Death Eater that was nearest to Harry. "IN AN OFFICE OF…"

"Silencio!" Hermione said and the man's voice suddenly cut out, though he continued to mouth through the hole in his mask before he was thrust aside by the other Death Eater.

"Pertificus Totalus!" exclaimed Harry, just as the second Death Eater raised his wand with his arms and legs snapped together and he had fallen forward, his face slammed down on to the rug at Harry's feet.

"Well done, Ha…"

But the silenced Death Eater made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest.

Her mouth formed a tiny 'Oh' as though surprised and crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless with Harry yelling her name.

Harry fell down to his knees beside her while Neville crawled quickly towards her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at his head, his foot, and Neville's wand, breaking before quickly connected with his face.

Neville shouted in pain, recoiling as he held his mouth and nose, with Harry having twisted around and his own wand was held up high. He saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his own wand directly at Harry, who soon recognized the long pale twisted face from the Daily Prophet as Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who murdered the Prewetts – Fabian and Gideon; with him being one of the escapees of Azkaban.

Dolohov smirked, coldly.

With his free hand, he had pointed to the prophecy that was still being held by Harry and then towards Hermione, making a gesture that was very clear even though he could no longer speak, the meaning was clear. 'The prophecy or you get the same as her,'

Hermione lay as still as she could, the pain in her chest almost made her pass out and the last thought that went through her mind before the darkness claimed her was _'I'm sorry, Draco'_.

* * *

"What!"

"DUMBLEDORE!"

Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly across from them was Dumbledore's wand aloft, his face was white and furious. Harry felt a change in his body, an electric charge that surged right through every particle of his body – they were saved; even with the members of the Order being there.

Dumbledore had already gone past Neville and Harry, who had no more thoughts of leaving when the Death Eaters nearest had realised that Dumbledore was there and soon yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey almost up the stone steps opposite but a spell from Dumbledore pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he hooked him with an invisible line –

Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light; he was laughing at her.

'Come on, you can do better than that!" Sirius yelled, his voice echoing.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest, yet the laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock with Harry having released Neville, though he had been unaware of doing so and he jumped to the ground, pulling out his wand as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall; hitting the ground with a sickening thud as his head connected with the wall with him being rather near to the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's face wasted once-handsome face as he fell and the anger, the grief – it pulled at Harry's heartstrings and he seemed to think that he was dead, despite the fact that Sirius luckily managed to not slip into the veil, having suddenly missed it by a mere inch.

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilised by invisible rugs.

Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay and was attempting to revive her, behind the dais there were still flakes of light, grunts and cries – Kingsley ran forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.

"Harry?"

Neville slid down the stone benches one by one to the place where Harry stood. Though Harry was no longer struggling against Lupin who maintained a precautionary grip on his arm nevertheless.

"Harry I'm really sorry…" said Neville. His legs were still dancing uncontrollably. "Was that man – was Sirius a friend of yours?"

Harry nodded.

"Here," stated Lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs before saying 'Finite.'

The spell was lifted. Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still, though Lupin's face was pale. "Let's – let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?"

Lupin turned away from the dais, turned away from his friend's body. It sounded as though every word was causing him pain as he had seen the blood from the impact, heard the sickening thud and the way Sirius's body hit the ground.

"Dey're all back dere," murmured Neville. "A brain attacked Ron but I dink he's all right. Hermione's unconscious, but we could feel a pulse,"

There was a loud bang and a sharp yell from behind the dais. Harry, Neville and Remus saw Kingsley hit the ground, suddenly, while yelling in agonising pain. Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around once again, having aimed a spell at her but she had deflected it with her being halfway up the steps…

"HARRY, NO!" shouted Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Lupin's slackened grip.

'SHE KILLED SIRIUS! SHE KILLED HIM – I'LL KILL HER!'

And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind him but he didn't care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight after her laughter filled the air, with Harry chasing her into the Thought Room where Ron was giggling feebly, while having leapt over Luna after slipping and sliding with him running towards the door at a fast pace.

He passed Ginny, who murmured something that sounded like 'Harry' and 'What' before he wrenched the door open into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix having disappeared through a door on the other side of the room; beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts. He ran faster but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls were already rotating.

Once more he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra, with him shouting desperately, asking for a way out with the door right behind him having flown open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-light and empty with him running again.

He could hear a lift clattering ahead; he sprinted up the passage-way, swung around the corner and slammed his fist on to the button to call a second lift with it having jangled and banged lower, and lower; the grilles slid open and Harry dashed inside, now hammering the button that was marked the Atrium. The doors having slid shut and he was rising….

Harry forced his way out of the lift behind the grilles were fully open before looking around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted towards her, tossing another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren; the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought-gold gates at the other end of the Atrium.

So that they rang like chiming were no more footsteps.

Bellatrix stopped running; while Harry crouched behind the statue, listening carefully. 'Come out, little Harry!' Bellatrix called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. 'What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my darling cousin!'

'I am!' Harry exclaimed, and a score of ghostly Harrys seemed to chorus 'I am!' around the room.

'Did you love him, baby Potter?'

Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never even known before, he flung himself out from behind the fountain and soon bellowed the words 'Crucio.'

Bellatrix screamed, the spell having knocked her off her feet but she didn't writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had done – she was already back on her feet, breathless yet no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the hand-some wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

'Never used an Unforgivable, have you, boy?' Bellatrix yelled, having abandoned her baby voice now. 'You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain – enjoy it, righteous anger won't hurt me for long – I'll show you how it is done, shall I?'

Harry soon edged around the fountain once more, when she screamed 'Crucio' and he ducked down quickly as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, spun off and landed with a crash on the floor, a short distance away from the golden wizard's head.

'Potter, you can't win against me!'

He could hear her move.

'I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant! I learned the Dark Arts from him and I know spells of such power that you, a pathetic little boy can never hope to compete –…'

'Stupefy!' Harry yelled. He edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.

'Protego!'

The jet of red light, his own Stunning Spell bounced back at him with him having flung himself back behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears was sent flying across the room.

'Potter, I'm giving you ONE chance!' Bellatrix shouted. 'Give me the prophecy…'

'Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone.' Harry roared, his scar was on fire again and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. 'And he knows!'

A mad laugh escaped his lips to Bellatrix's own.

'Voldemort knows it's gone!'

'What!' Bellatrix cried, and for the first time there was a hint of fear in her tone of voice.

'The prophecy got smashed! What do you think Voldemort will say about that, then?'

'LIAR' Bellatrix shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger. 'YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME!'

There was a pause, before she started screaming 'Accio' and Harry laughed again because he knew it would anger her, but the pain was building badly inside his head and he thought that his skull would soon burn. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and quickly withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.

'Nothing there!' He shouted. 'Nothing to summon; it smashed and nobody heard what it said – so tell him that!'

'NO' She screamed, her words echoing around the Atrium.

'Don't waste your breath!' Harry yelled, his eyes scrunching up against the pain in his scar, now seeming more terrible than ever. 'He can't hear you from here!'

'Can't I, Potter?' said a high, cold bitter toned voice.

Harry's eyes shot open.

Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face gaunt, his blue eyes staring. Lord Voldemort appeared in the middle of the hall, out of the black smoke and his wand pointing at Harry who stood frozen, unable to move though he had flicked his wand, only for it to be pulled from his grasp and landed somewhere.

'So you smashed my prophecy, did you?' stated Voldemort, coldly, staring at Harry with those pitiless blue eyes.

Lord Voldemort did not pay much attention to Bellatrix's sobs, didn't pay much attention to anything or anyone but Harry; thought when he didn't have much else to say to him, he would have cast the killing curse if Dumbledore didn't appear.

'It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom' said Dumbledore.

'The Aurors are on their way…'

'By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!' Voldemort spat; as he sent a killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk which burst into flames.

Dumbledore flicked his own wand, the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry even though he was protected by a wall; he felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it.

The spell, what-ever it was caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep gong like note reverberated from it.

An odd, chilling sound.

Before they started to duel again with Bellatrix disappearing into the Floo Network while Harry remained hidden and the fear of Dumbledore losing while the Atrium was slowly getting destroyed by both wizards, duelling each other with the glass having shattered out of the windows in the offices...

* * *

Lupin knelt next to Sirius crumpled form. Blood was forming in a small pool under his head and matting his hair.

Hermione had been moved next to him, Mad Eye wasn't sure what she had been hit with and have been unable to revive her as he had Tonks.

"Do you think she's gonna be OK?" Tonk's sat next to him.

"Mad Eye doesn't know what she was hit with, Severus should be able to help though." Lupin looked down at Sirius, his last friend was gone. A single tear rolled down his cheek, he was alone.

"He moved!"

Lupin looked at Tonks. "What?"

"I swear he moved." She caught his hand.

"Sirius?"

He looked back down at him, almost daring to hope.

Sirius groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open. "Who hit me?"

"Oh you're alive!" Tonks hugged him. "Merlin don't scare us like that." She slapped his arm.

"Let him rest Tonks. He'll need to get his head checked out make sure there's no permanent damage."

She nodded and sat up drying her tears.

Lupin smiled as relief flooded him and he squeezed Sirius hand. "You nearly gave me a heart attack there padfoot. Thought I'd lost you for a moment."

"You'll never loose me Moony." Sirius said softly squeezing back…


End file.
